Appreciating Agnes Moorehead, Clinton's most bewitching native

Tuesday

Apr 29, 2014 at 1:50 PMApr 29, 2014 at 1:54 PM

"We are quicksilver, a fleeting shadow, a distant sound... our home has no boundaries beyond which we cannot pass. We live in music, in a flash of color ... we live on the wind and in the sparkle of a star!" — Endora on "Bewitched"

She was one of the principal Mercury Players, providing the voice of Margot Lane on the '30s radio serial "The Shadow," and participating in Orson Welles' infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast of 1938.

She was in "Citizen Kane," considered by many to be the greatest movie of all time, as well as one of the greatest "Twilight Zone" episodes ever.

And, if that wasn't enough, this Clinton-native played Endora, the flamboyant, mortal-loathing, eccentric witch-mother to Samantha Stephens (and mother-in-law from hell to Darrin "Derwood" Stephens) on "Bewitched."

Arguably the biggest star of radio, stage, film and television to come out of a very unassuming small town in Central Massachusetts, Agnes Moorehead left the world of the living 40 years ago April 30, but the spirit of this ebullient and versatile character actress is still very much alive whenever she steals a scene on the small screen, whether it's in a classic film, television sitcom or drama.

If she were alive today, "Aggie" (as her friends called her) would be 113-years-old, which is pretty old even for a witch. And I use the term "witch" as the most sincere compliment.

In a 1974 article of the New York Times, Moorehead said, "I've been in movies and played theater from coast to coast, so I was quite well-known before "Bewitched," and I don't particularly want to be identified as a witch."

Well, we don't always get what we wished for. But what a stellar career "The Lavender Lady" had prior to Endora.

In her first film, 1941's "Citizen Kane," Moorehead played the titular character's mother, responsible for ruining Charles Foster Kane's innocent childhood and, subsequently, made him utter the most famous last word in cinema, "Rosebud."

A year later, Moorehead received even greater acclaim for her role as Aunt Fanny Minafer in "The Magnificent Ambersons," which she received her first of four Academy Award nomination.

Moorehead's other Oscar noms were for her touching portrayal of the jaded but sympathetic Baroness Conti in 1944's "Mrs. Parkington," as the title character's Aunt Aggie in 1948's "Johnny Belinda" and for Velma, the suspicious housekeeper of Bette Davis in 1964's "Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte."

Moorehead also made notable film appearances in 1943's "Jane Eyre" and 1947's "Dark Passage," a classic film noir in which she had third billing behind Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall as the treacherous, malevolent Madge Rapf.

On stage, Moorehead enjoyed success with "Don Juan in Hell," touring nationally, the first time with Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton and Cedric Hardwicke in 1951-52, the second time with Ricardo Montalban and Paul Henreid in 1973.

In 1954, Moorehead also toured the U.S. and Europe with a one-woman show, "The Fabulous Redhead."

In the unforgettable and unrelenting "Twilight Zone" episode "The Invaders (1961), Moorehead plays a lonely old woman confronted by tiny alien invaders in her remote farmhouse. Moorehead, who never utters a single word in the taunt and riveting episode, not only brings unspeakable terror to new heights, she makes what are on the surface mere kids' toys into the scariest things on the planet.

The twice-divorced thespian initially turned down her most recognizable role as Endora, but reportedly reconsidered when Elizabeth Montgomery, who played Samantha Stephens) and Moorehead accidently ran into each other at a department store and Montgomery pleaded for the accomplished actress to please reconsider.

In 1964, Moorehead joined the cast of "Bewitched," not expecting the show to last more than one season, let alone become a long-running hit. Immediately, she captured our attention with her strawberry mop, blue-eyeliner, big fake-eyelashes, ridiculously hippie outfits, sardonic wit and her fondness for riding on the wing of a plane rather than outside.

In 1967, Moorehead portrayed Miss Emma Valentine in "The Night of the Vicious Valentine" on "The Wild Wild West," a performance for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

In a "TV Guide" interview, Moorehead dismissed many of the "Bewitched" scripts as "hack." Despite her ambivalence, she remained with the silly sitcom until its run ended in 1972, and received six Emmy Award nominations for her trouble.

And through reruns, a new audience is being cast under Moorehead's enchanting spell. (Craig S. Semon)

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